Taxes on goods and services are the main driver of growth in non-oil revenues, data from the Ministry of Finance compiled by Arab News show.
The stastics reveal the bulk of the SR6 billion ($1.6 billion) net year-on-year increase in non-oil revenues in the first quarter can be attributed to the levies, which grew by SR6.7 billion over the same period.
Likewise, they contributed most of the SR25 billion increase in non-oil revenues in 2021, as income from taxes on non-oil goods and services surged by SR23.1 billion.
The second biggest component was "Other revenues” — the monies received from other public government units, such as the central bank, as well as the proceeds from sales performed by government entities, including advertising, port fees, fines and penalties.
This component constituted less than 23 percent of total non-oil revenue compared to 27.5 percent, 36.4 percent and 28.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil revenues recorded an increase of 6.8 percent in first quarter of 2022 amounting SR94 billion, compared to the first quarter of last year of SR88 billion. The figure is the biggest first quarter non-oil revenue over the past 3 years, data posted by the Ministry of Finance show.
In the same period of last year, non-oil revenues experienced an even bigger increase of 39 percent, compared to the first quarter of the pandemic 2020 due to a much lower base, after the revenues fell 17.1 percent year-on-year.
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 when non-oil revenues reached SR104 billion the figure for the first quarter of 2022 saw a decrease of 9.6 percent.
In the first quarter of 2022 non-oil revenues constituted nearly 34 percent of total revenues, compared to 43 percent and 39 percent in the same period last year and the fourth quarter of 2021, respectively. This reflects much stronger growth in oil revenues over the same periods, driven by a strong rally in oil.
Looking at the structure of non-oil revenues in the first quarter of 2021, its biggest component — taxes on goods and services — constituted just over 66 percent of the total.
This compares to 61, 48 and 54 percent in the same quarter of 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The strong increase in 2021 from 2020 we attribute to the effect of the rise in value added tax in July 2020, as well as expansion of output and sales in the non-oil industries.
Government income from taxes on non-oil goods and services increased moderately by 11 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, compared to a 75 percent increase between the first quarters of 2020 and 2021.
